A Pawn's Passage
Free
Ongoing

A Pawn's Passage

80%
26 Reviews
Author:
Ask Not About Jianghu
Translator:
Clare
In a supernatural world where secret forces are at play in the courts, Qi Xuansu, a seventh-rank Daoist priest, finds himself in a struggle to escape his fate as a pawn. The only way to do so is by completing missions and earning enough merit to buy back his freedom. But first, he must enhance his cultivation and climb the ranks of the Daoist Order. Follow Qi Xuansu as he unlocks his potential in his journey toward self-realization and liberation!
Free for All Chapters

Chapters
354 Chapters
Licensed From
Zongheng

Details

Translated by Clare

Hello! I'm Clare, and I'm a new translator in the wuxia genre. I am really looking forward to bringing you a thrilling new cultivation novel that focuses a lot on power struggle and self-liberation. I hope you will enjoy A Pawn’s Passage as much as I enjoyed translating it. Your support and feedback mean the world to me as I embark on this exciting journey in the wuxia world. Thank you for being gentle and welcoming! Happy reading! 🙂


Release time: 12PM (GMT+8)

Reviews
80%
26 Reviews
View All
FreedomDao
VIP
4 months ago
·
Edited
Recommended
I will update this review as I read, usually in a 50 chapter basis.

As of chapter 100 this novel shows up with 4 major things that separate it from the rest of the novels currently present at WW:

1 - It is full of poetry and actual depth, not like First Immortal of the Sword or Tome of Troubled times, and instead a lot like the old Desolate Era.

2 - The Power scale is detailed(chap 100: not as well as I'd hope, however I still think it might get better as the novel goes on), at least way more than the average cultivation novel that is something like: oh I have 9000 more QI now I'll change from golden banana to blue pineapple, and instead at least has some explanation to it's power level.

3 - There is no indirect info dumping. What do I mean? See: in most other cultivation novels(usually the bad ones or the harem ones) the character is a nobody and for some reason has no context of the world, even down to the basics of what is cultivation, so they introduce some random character to explain the whole cultivation system in one go, which usually comes off as boring or makes the power system extremely limited. In this novel, the world itself is being gradually expanded into a full picture, little by little. There are entire sections that are dedicated to explaining some things, but instead of coming off as annoying dialog(for further understanding: I'm talking about AR, and literally all harem novels in this website), they usually use a journal-like method of explaining that is very direct, and usually very short. chap 100: About this point... honestly I still stand by this, however there are some people who might think that the actual direct info dumping the author does is bad. I quite enjoy it., to be honest

4 - This translator is brave. They dare to use new formatting instead of just plain text and it honestly makes a huge difference in the readability and immersion of the story. I had a small beef with the color purple(some of you might've seen it) but otherwise this translator is out here doing god's work and I hope to see more novels from them. If you wanna know what I'm talking about, look no further than chapter 1, or if you really want to understand what I mean, look at chapter 27. chapter 100: still 100% stand by this

edit no 3: minor spoiler, but based on something that might be interesting to know. Even though the novel is Chinese, chapter 50 seems to imply that the world is divided not only in factions but also cultures, and one of those factions is very clearly modeled as the Catholic Church, even going as far as mentioning 'the Devil' and vampires......

edit no. 1: I'm hopeful. However I don't dare be too hopeful. this is a review currently at just 30 chapters, and honestly martial gods ascension (the 4000 chapters horrible paced novel) was pretty cool at 30 chapters. I'll wait and see before I turn it into a full blown good review.

Takeoutchicken
VIP
4 months ago
Recommended
The story is very well written and translated, and has an authenticity to it that points to a great deal of research on the author’s side. The plot is engaging, but is still only emerging at this point. There is a hint of a large conflict on the horizon but the story begins with the opening moves of it coming to from silent conflict in the background to the foreground. And I really like how the characters are clearly a product of the in-story environment. That is to say, they are still recognizably Xianxia characters but the story is set in a sort of earth world where there is pervasive influence of the western world in their version of ancient China (with guns). Also, the culture is not as offensive to modern sensibilities so it is easier to empathize with the characters. Unlike one other review, the motivations of the MC, as well as other characters is quite clear and at the same time complex and changing, very realistic. No 2D characters whatsoever, good period-style dialogue, internally consistent logic. 10/10 from me, looking forward to reading more and hoping the quality of both the writing and translation remains the same.

rvr777
VIP
4 months ago
Recommended
After 30 chapters, I'm impressed. We start in the middle of an action sequence, where the fight is immersive and heavy. While the opponents only stuck around for a few chapters, they were unique and well characterized. Furthermore, the conflict was meaningful, between major factions of the world. I'm confident this story will be varied and rich, like Unsheathed and Way of Choices.

After the first 12 chapters, the story slows down to take a breather, transitioning to more political machinations, as the MC is trying to pursue promotion to further strength, which is controlled by the daoist orthodoxy. But it's likes clear we're about to go to war with the western demons. Should be exciting!

I look forward to seeing where this heads.

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2 months ago

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